


Aftershock

by waterandsilver



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Gen, Grief/Mourning, Heavy Angst, Lance (Voltron) Angst, POV Lance (Voltron), Season/Series 04, for the people who commented on my other fic!!
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-18
Updated: 2017-10-18
Packaged: 2019-01-19 02:18:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,949
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12401070
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/waterandsilver/pseuds/waterandsilver
Summary: The one where Lotor doesn't arrive in time, and the team has to deal with the emotional fallout of Keith's sacrifice.





	Aftershock

**Author's Note:**

> @ the six or seven (?) people who commented saying they'd like to read something like this - I hope it's okay!! I know I focused on Lance's pov more than the team's in general, but other pov chapters might be added. I'd like to look at how they deal as time goes on, not just immediately. Also, please read the tags, because this is super sad. Angst is my lifeblood, but I could feel it getting to me here tbh.

When the Galra ship blows up, it’s certainly a spectacle. Anyone who’s looking closely will see a shadowy blur, cutting through space at an impossible speed. Then something slices through the canon without mercy, leaving a cascade of amber sparks in its wake. There’s a moment of stillness before the explosions begin, ricocheting down the length of the ship, each blast bigger than the last, until the structure rips itself apart in a shuddering shriek, and the whole cruiser is engulfed in a fireball.

At the time, Lance doesn’t realise what he’s seeing. He actually does a little whoop when the deadly purple bubble surrounding Naxzela melts away. All he knows is that the threat is gone - because Keith did something, and whatever it was, it worked.

“Get clear!” Shiro orders, and Lance jumps into action, seizing his controls and doing what he can to swerve Voltron out of the range of the fiery debris. Still, a smile of victory rests on his lips as he does so. They’re out of the water. It was a terrifying few minutes back there, but they're going to be okay.

When they’re finally at a safe distance, Voltron breaks apart, and Shiro contacts the coalition to rendezvous. It’s then that Lance begins to realise that something is wrong. He spies the coalition’s ships arriving – but there’s no sign of the Marmora vessel that Keith was piloting. What’s more, Matt sounds off. Shiro is trying and failing to get a clear answer out of him, his replies evasive and his voice almost dazed. And Keith… Keith isn’t answering at all.

“Matt, I need you to pull yourself together and answer me,” says Shiro, uncharacteristically rough. “I need you to tell me that Keith didn’t just do what I think he did.”

Lance frowns, uncomprehending. Fed up with the confusion, he pulls up a line to Pidge. Sometimes he thinks that Shiro forgets that they’re a few years younger than he is, that things can go over their heads if they’re not explained. Pidge is smart; maybe she’ll know what’s going on.

“Do you know what he’s talking about?” he asks.

“Beats me,” she replies, sounding just as befuddled as him.

Hunk adds himself to the line. “Guys, can either of you see Keith?”

“No,” says Lance. “And he hasn’t said anything since he said – what did he say? Something about not being able to get through their shields with weapons.”

“Wait a second, did he mean…?”

Dread trickles down Lance’s spine. He can feel the pieces falling into place, but suddenly he doesn’t want to see the whole picture…

“I’m sorry, Shiro,” says Matt. “There was nothing we could do. We lost one of our fighters as well. I swear, I didn’t have a chance to stop him.”

Realisation hits Lance like a sledgehammer. The thing that had collided with the ship, that had caused it to explode— that had been Keith.

“I’m sorry, guys,” Matt says again, his voice choked. “I’m so sorry.”

.

.

Lance barely remembers anything about the journey back to the Castle. His head is a daze, and he flies abysmally, barely seeing his surroundings. He knows he owes it to Blue that he manages to get back in one piece, but he can’t bring himself to thank her as he usually would, stumbling out of his lion as soon as they touch down in the Castle.

There has to be a mistake. Keith can’t be dead.

Shiro is the first one he sees, emerging from the Black Lion's mouth on the other side of the hangar, his head hanging low. Lance’s heart jumps up to his mouth. It’s childish, but he wants to run to Shiro, to make their leader reassure them that this is just a mix-up. He wants to see that familiar easy confidence, that level determination, back in his eyes. Of course Keith is fine. It's  _Keith_ , the idiot who never looks before he leaps, but who always comes out of it in one piece. Usually a bit bruised, sometimes only by the skin of his teeth. But he always makes it out. That’s just Keith’s way. He’s been pulling off stupidly ambitious feats of piloting since Lance was just a cargo pilot.

Lance doesn't see Pidge barrelling past him until a green blur knocks him off balance. Shiro looks up as she comes charging up to him, and Lance blinks in shock. Shiro’s eyes are red. He’s been crying. No, he  _is_  crying, present tense.

Pidge stops abruptly when she reaches him. Her face is screwed up and there are tears in her eyes too, although they might be ones of anger. Her fists are clenched at her sides. For a moment Lance thinks she’s going to punch him. But then she quite literally crumples, breaking into sobs, and Shiro catches her, wrapping his arms around her shaking shoulders. They collapse onto the floor together, holding each other tightly. No one would think they’re paladins of Voltron, looking at them now.

Lance just stares. His insides feel numb. This feels like an awful dream. Of course they’ve brushed death before, too many times to count, but his brain won’t comprehend that this is happening.

Keith was right there, he was talking to them less than an hour ago. How can he be gone?

There’s a rush of air behind him, and Lance turns to see Hunk and Allura arriving, just as Coran rushes down from the control room. The Altean opens his mouth, then shuts it quickly, looking lost for words. Allura approaches Shiro hesitantly, like he's a wounded animal she doesn't want to startle.

“Shiro,” she says gently. “Perhaps… perhaps we shouldn’t assume the worst just yet… is it possible that he had an escape pod?”

Shiro looks up, a flicker of hope wavering in his eyes.

“Coran?”

“I’ll scan the area,” he says at once. “Let’s go up to the control room, shall we?”

“Yeah,” says Shiro, then a little stronger, “Yeah. Let’s do that.”

But Hunk looks uncertain. “Do you actually think he could have made it out in an escape pod?”

Lance doesn't know what to say. All he knows is that the longer they stand here, without Keith, the more it feels like a reality, that he's… that he’s dead.

“No,” says Pidge. The small, hard word feels like a punch. Lance actually flinches. “You guys saw the explosion. He didn’t make it out.”

Anger flares up in Lance.

“We know, okay?” he snaps before he can stop himself. “We know!”

To his horror, he feels tears rising  _now_ , blurring the room and all their faces. He can’t be here. Lance spins on his heel and practically runs from the hangar.

He doesn’t go to the control room. The Castle’s walls blur into one around him as he rushes down the corridors. His room is exactly how he left it, but it feels different to before, shifted, wrong. Everything was fine when he threw his jacket on his chair over there. The door closes with a soft click and suddenly Lance is surrounded by empty silence. He wraps his arms around himself, shivering in the room with its bare,  _alien_  white walls, even though it’s not really cold. Suddenly, he feels an awfully long way from home.

And then the feeling of numbness finally breaks. The truth of what’s happened sets in, and everything comes crashing down. Lance throws himself on his bed and cries and cries and cries.

.

.

He doesn’t know how long passes. Maybe an hour, probably less. After a while, he sits back up and scrubs his eyes. He’s cried so much that his chest hurts, and something about the ache is grounding, making him feel marginally better, even though it’s a painful reminder that this whole situation is real.

Lance isn’t the sort to hide away and bury his head in the sand. He’s always sought out other people when he feels bad, always tried to come up with a plan. He doesn’t want to be alone down here while the rest of Voltron are trying to piece things together.

His eyes linger on the door at the far end of the corridor when he slips out of his room. Keith hasn’t even been here for months, but it was still his room. And Lance always expected him to return to it one day. Sure, Keith was training with the Blade of Marmora, but he would be back. He was still a part of Voltron. He’d been there since the start, since him and Lance carried Shiro’s out of the garrison between them, since he’d flown them out into the desert on his stupid hovercraft (Lance never got round to asking him where he found that thing). He was still a part of the team, at least in Lance’s mind, and he knew it was the same for Hunk and Pidge.

He sees Hunk as soon as he leaves his room, hovering in the entrance to the bridge. For a moment Lance thinks he’s going to berate him for snapping at Pidge, but then he sees the downward turn of Hunk’s lips, the tiredness in his brown eyes, and he reminds himself that he isn't the only one who’s lost Keith.

“Hey, man,” Lance says weakly.

Hunk nods in greeting, then takes a deep breath.

“They’re… they’re looking through the, uh… the wreckage. But the Marmora guys say there wasn’t an escape pod on his ship.”

It’s a blow, but it’s a dull one at this point. He knew deep down that if Keith had survived, they would have found him by now.

“I know,” says Lance. “It’s all right, Hunk.”

But Hunk’s face creases. “No it’s not,” he whispers.

Lance reaches forward and yanks his friend into a crushing embrace, squeezing him tightly.

“You know Keith wouldn’t want us to be like this, right?” he mumbles against his friend's shoulder. The words feel strange; it feels far too early to be saying things like that. But he has to say something. Seeing Hunk upset is one of the few things that he just can’t bear.

Hunk hiccups, nods. “Yeah, I know.”

They break apart. Hunk looks down at his feet.

“It’s weird… I haven’t seen Keith in months, but I kind of miss him now.”

“Miss him?”

“Yeah.” A watery smile crosses Hunk’s face. “I know he’d just roll his eyes and tell me to suck it up. I think I could use that right now.”

Despite everything, a laugh bursts through Lance’s lips.

“He would.”

Then their smiles fade. Lance rubs at his eyes, the exhaustion of the day’s events suddenly hitting him.

“I need to go and see the others.”

Hunk reads his mind. “Lance, Pidge isn’t going to be made at you. She’s hurting too… We all are.”

Lance just nods, although it’s a relief to hear.

“Things are happening,” Hunk continues. “Lotor got in contact with the coalition, it looks like he’s trying to switch sides… and everyone is trying to make sure the planets we liberated are stable… I don’t know. There’s still so much stuff to sort out. Shiro is trying to deal with it all, but he’s…”

Hunk trails off. Lance understands. Shiro was closer to Keith than any of them. He’ll be a wreck. He can’t shoulder the burden of the battle’s fallout right now, even though he’ll inevitably try to.

They need to stick together now, as much as before.  _More_  than before.

Lance squares his shoulders, and clasps Hunk on the arm.

“Come on,” he says. “Let’s go help them out.”

They’re still a team, after all. Even if they’re not a complete one anymore.


End file.
